If you’re female and pre-menopausal, a vegan or vegetarian, or you’ve got any kind of digestive problem you may well be at increased risk of iron deficiency.  The link between iron deficiency and your gut is key.

This article will also take a closer look at what you need iron for, signs you may be deficient and how to increase absorption naturally through your diet.

Iron’s role in the body

Iron is an essential nutrient that performs hundreds of vital actions throughout the body. One of the most important though, is helping to transport oxygen from your lungs, through your blood to your tissues and organs.

Commonly, iron deficiency is linked to anaemia which means you aren’t producing enough healthy red blood cells.

You need iron in order to produce haemoglobin which is a protein found within your red blood cells. It’s the haemoglobin which carries oxygen from your lungs to the cells around your body.

Unfortunately if you haven’t got enough iron on board, you won’t be able to produce plentiful oxygen-carrying red blood cells. As you can imagine, this will leave you feeling fatigued and weak as your tissues and cells won’t be receiving the oxygen they need to carry out their functions.

Things don’t end there either: Iron is needed in multiple cells around the body to keep them healthy.

Iron deficiency & your gut

Iron also helps your gut function properly, as it plays a part in enzymatic reactions which help you digest and absorb. It also helps with hormone balancing and your metabolism.

Deficiency symptoms

The symptoms of an iron deficiency are many and far-reaching, but the more common ones tend to be –

– Weird food cravings, for example for ice or dirt
– Pale appearance
– Anemia
– Muscle weakness and difficulty exercising
– Shortness of breath
– Palpitations
– Hormone imbalances

Iron deficiency & your gut – who’s most at risk?

Those with GI issues or absorption issues, such as SIBO, or who restrict their diet.  It’s really important to address your gut health if you have issues with iron. Especially since certain types of ‘less desirable’ gut bacteria, which proliferate in IBS and SIBO, for example, are known to gobble up iron.

In addition,

– Women with heavy periods
– Pregnant women
– Vegetarians and vegans

Are at increased risk.

Ensuring you’re eating a diverse diet can be a nightmare when you’re suffering with your gut, especially as so many of these ‘healthy’ foods are also big trigger foods. If this is the case for you I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help you eat safely, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.

How you combine foods can help absorb iron

Foods which contain heme iron such as meat or fish will help you absorb the iron from non-heme (plant-based) foods. Combining these foods when you eat will ensure a healthy supply of iron. 

This may seem complicated, but if you’re eating a wide variety of nutritious, whole foods regularly throughout the day, you should have all bases covered. If you do this you’ll be unlikely to become iron deficient.  Check out my online programme to help with this –

Top tips to survive Christmans when you have gut trouble.

If you have IBS, bloating, heartburn, or are prone to indigestion then these five tips should help you avoid gut trouble at Christmas,  without feeling like you’re missing out.

And best of all?

You definitely won’t feel like you’re depriving yourself at all.

Tip #1 – How to avoid gut trouble at Christmas – keep anxiety under control

Accept that you probably are anxious and stressed, even if you don’t feel like you are in the moment. It’s usual not to feel like you’re stressed while you’re stressed, but you may well recognise it as such afterwards.

Anxiety, worry and digestive symptoms such as IBS unfortunately often go hand in hand. Your gut and brain are always talking to each other so it’s very important to avoid anxiety as far as you can.

Unfortunately Christmas and all the running around shopping, wrapping and cooking can cause even the most laid back people to become stressed – so make sure you ask for help when you need it, if you want to avoid aggravating those IBS symptoms.

When we experience stress (and it doesn’t have to be excessive) we tend to produce less stomach acid and digestive enzymes, and it also has a negative impact on our friendly gut bacteria. This can result in uncomfortable digestion and excessive bloating and gas.

If you don’t already, a crucial part in overcoming gut symptoms is learning to manage stress with techniques such as meditation and yoga. If you’re already in the habit of practicing these, then remember to fit them in over the festive season too.

Avoid gut trouble at Christmas tip #3 Avoid overeating

Although it might seem easier said than done over Christmas, a few simple tweaks to your diet will really help here. Overeating may strain your already sensitive digestive system and lead to discomfort.

A great way to avoid overindulging is to focus on high protein foods. These foods take much longer to digest than high carb foods, so help you feel not only full, but avoid your blood sugar levels soaring and plunging – which is what gives you cravings.
Focus on these types of foods which are loaded with protein –

Turkey
Nut roast
Smoked salmon and other fish
Lean meats
Eggs

On the other hand, examples of high carb foods – which tend to keep you craving – are things like roast potatoes, pastries, cakes, and canapés.

Tip 4 – keep hydrated (vital to avoid gut trouble at Christmas)

Water is vital for your digestive system, it really does keep everything lubricated and moving along nicely.  It also helps you avoid constipation.

The temptation is always there over christmas to consume too much alcohol – this is very dehydrating and the dehydration will wreak havoc with your digestive system.

You need plenty of water on board to ensure your gut can make all the digestive enzymes and acids it needs to.

Keeping hydrated will also help your liver to detoxify if it is getting over burdened.

When you do drink alcohol, make sure it’s a good quality wine and drink less of it – avoid anything too sugary.  Aim to alternate an alcoholic drink water to keep things moving along nicely.

Here are five reasons your gut health could be to blame.

I had a question in clinic this week, about how your gut health affects other parts of your body. This is very interesting as your gut health closely connects to just about every other system and function of your body. A major complaint of nearly everyone I speak to is ongoing tiredness, fatigue or exhaustion. If you’re feeling tired or exhausted all the time it can really impact your life negatively – with work, family and everything else so it’s absolutely worth getting to the root cause of it, and getting it sorted.

So if you’re feeling exhausted here are a few reasons this might be happening –

Impaired absorption may be why you’re feeling exhausted.

Firstly – if your gut isn’t functioning optimally you’re unlikely to be absorbing nutrients properly.  Your stomach just won’t be able to break down food, and allow your gut to absorb all those vitamins and minerals efficiently.  A lot of vital nutrients are going to end up passing straight through your digestive system.  If your gut function is compromised your stomach acid might be low, or you may be producing inadequate levels of enzymes from your pancreas, for example.  This will cause inadequate nutrient absorption.

If you’re feeling tired all the time, then your microbiome – AKA gut bacteria – could be to blame.

Further along your digestive system your microorganisms are a huge influence on how effectively you digest and absorb your food. They’re also critical in how well you sleep, your mood and your hormone levels, to name a few. All these factors can influence your overall energy levels.

Any time you experience a degree of stress, be it from an infection or emotional stress, your microbiome will undoubtedly take a hit. Your bacterial balance may change from consisting of mostly beneficial species, to having overgrowths of less desirable bacterial species, or yeasts such as candida. These may not only cause digestive disturbances, but also hugely impact your energy levels.

Studies have actually shown that not only do less desirable bacterial species tend to proliferate in those who experience a lot of fatigue, but they have less bacterial diversity too. This is why I’m absolutely not a fan of overly-restrictive diets to control digestive symptoms. Everyone needs a diverse microbiome to keep healthy and energetic, and a diverse diet is needed to increase bacterial diversity.

Gut mucosal lining.

One of the main tasks of your gut mucosa is to keep invaders out, and nutrients in. If gut lining integrity is compromised you end up with a condition called ‘leaky gut’ – there’s more on that here.
When the gut lining gets thin and/or leaky, it allows particles to pass through which triggers an immune response. Among other things, the inflammation caused by this will contribute to feelings of tiredness and exhaustion. Continued inflammation will erode away at the gut wall causing it to become increasingly thin and deteriorate.

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the part of your nervous system that deals with stress. As inflammatory substances, known as cytokines, begin to circulate in increasing numbers this causes stress in the body. The more your body is stressed, the more the stress hormone cortisol is released. If this goes on for too long, your adrenal glands may become compromised resulting in insomnia and exhaustion.

Needless to say, if you feel tired all the time this warrants investigation firstly from your GP. However if those tests don’t shed any light then do get in touch to discuss gut testing (especially if you’re experiencing gut related issues alongside). It could well provide the answers you’re looking for. 

Today I’m going to discuss a common area of confusion, as there are a lot of different messages out there depending on who you speak to. What it boils down to is the whole saturated fat debate. We’ve been led to believe that saturated fat is so detrimental to health we must avoid it at all costs, but is this necessary? And is butter or margarine healthier? Read on to find out.

Just to be clear you absolutely need fat in your diet.  It’s the type of fat which can cause problems.

The pros and cons of margarine

• Margarine is made from vegetable oil which undergoes hydrogenation or intensive processing to harden the texture.
• Although rich in polyunsaturated fats which are considered healthier for your heart, by the time they’ve been processed they’re less than ideal. After this processing they often become trans fats which we definitely want to avoid!
• Some margarines contain healthier oils such as olive oil, and some really aren’t too bad at all such as the vegan brands you can buy in health food shops. These can contain a nice variety of alternative fats such as coconut oil and shea butter.
• Margarine will almost always contain additives to make it tastier and spreadable.
• Standard margarines are very high in omega-6 fatty acids. We need to keep our omega-3 and 6 in the correct ratio to be healthy – but there is a problem! Found everywhere, Omega-6 is in so many foods we end up eating far too much of it.
  Omega-6 can also be very inflammatory. Excessive inflammation is at the root of most disease and illness states, so really, avoiding too much omega-6 is essential.

The bottom line on margarine:

If you’re avoiding dairy for dietary reasons or if you’re vegan, look for brands which are free from trans fats.  Better still use ‘healthier fat’ containing brands from your health food shop.

The pros and cons of butter:

Although demonised as being high in saturated fat, and therefore bad for heart health, this isn’t the whole story. The jury is still out on how much saturated fat we need in our diets, but the general consensus is it definitely needs to feature in our diets to some degree.

The nutrient profile of butter from grass-fed herds is very high. It contains some real plusses such as –

• Vitamin K2, this plays a key role in bone and heart health, and is also key in cancer prevention.
• Butter is also rich in several important fatty acids, including butyrate which you need for a healthy gut. You can read more about keeping your gut healthy here.
  Plenty of omega-3 fatty acids for brain and skin health.
• Conjugated linoleic acid which helps stop weight gain and helps build muscle.

The bottom line on butter –

It’s rich in saturated fat which we undoubtedly need in our diets, but the jury is very much still out on how much exactly we need.
As is usually the way with all things nutrition related – the poison’s in the dose – a small amount is likely beneficial for you, but too much may well be damaging.
And how much butter do we really tend to eat? It’s not something we usually consume at very high levels!
When buying butter look for grass fed, organic and if you can get it, raw.  If you have a good local farmers market you may be able to pick up raw butter there.

Nut butters
Seed butters
Hummus

They can all be spread on toast too to make a delicious snack.
Try to avoid eating only one kind, they’re all beneficial and contain different types of fats which we need for a balanced diet.

What’s the real reason for your heartburn or reflux?

Contrary to what it may feel like, acid reflux symptoms are not usually caused by too much acid in the stomach, and antacids may not be the best remedy.  This blog outlines the truth about antacids, and why you may want to consider a natural solution.

Here’s the thing: It seems that symptoms such as heartburn and reflux actually come about because of low stomach acid, AKA hypochlorrhidria. And what’s worse is that every time you take antacids, PPIs or H2 blockers you may actually be making the problem worse.

The truth about antacids is they may cause a viscous cycle situation.

Now that’s not to say that medications such as antacids don’t have a place, they are useful for effectively treating the occasional bout of heartburn or reflux. What I’m talking about here is chronic, ongoing, frequent use of these medications.

Prolonged hypochlorhydria – or low stomach acid – is associated with

• nutrient deficiencies,
• diabetes,
• chronic fatigue

and a whole host of other disorders.

Before we go any further into this, be aware that antacids themselves tend to be associated with an array of side effects, including –

Constipation
Diarrhoea
Nausea and vomiting
Low appetite
Headaches

So what does cause these uncomfortable symptoms?

Reflux comes about because of acid rising up through the oesophagus. This happens because the valve at the lower end of your oesophagus starts to leak, generally because of too much pressure on the stomach (as I just mentioned) allowing acid to creep up into the oesophagus. If your stomach acid isn’t in your stomach, but sloshing around up in your oesophagus, you may get uncomfortable problems.

There are a few reasons this may happen –

Hiatal hernia – this is when the upper end of your stomach pushes through the diaphragm.

Eating meals which are too large – an over-full stomach adds pressure to the diaphragm allowing acid to seep upwards.

Eating too much of the ‘wrong’ food – this isn’t to say that everyone has the same ‘wrong’ foods, it’s just that some foods are more suited to some people than others. Or, what your body needed when you were younger, for example, may not be what it needs now. It could be that you may be consuming too much carbohydrate for your current needs, for example.

You may also have dysbiosis or SIBO which could be increasing the levels of gas in your digestive system.

Food intolerances – These could be behind your symptoms.

Stomach acid is also a major first line of defence for your immune system
If you raise the pH of your stomach environment so it becomes more alkaline, it’s not particularly hostile to any unwelcome guests. We want it to be nice and acidic to protect us from invaders.

Therefore the risk of stomach bugs such as salmonella or listeria may increase. A very acidic environment is not only necessary to effectively digest food, but also to kill off any invaders.

So what is the truth about antacids and PPIs?

Unfortunately you may be inadvertently adding to the problem.

Your stomach may go all out trying to make more hydrochloric acid to increase the acidity of your stomach, and return it to it’s set point, you can really end up with a no-win situation.

So what can you do about it?

You’ll need to do a bit of detective work to ascertain where these symptoms are coming from:

Dietary changes may help you here.

Reducing refined grains – white bread, white pasta etc. and also keeping your sugar intake to a minimum.

Probiotics

Eating probiotic-rich foods may help you – but be aware these can sometimes aggravate symptoms, especially if you have an underlying issue such as SIBO.  This is where testing can be valuable.

There are also supplements that can help you, but of course it depends on what is actually the underlying cause of your reflux or heartburn.  High quality magnesium and digestive enzymes are a couple that may be recommended.